


Bonding Exercise

by sergeantwinter



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Compliant, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, First Kiss, M/M, Practice Kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2018-08-17
Packaged: 2019-06-25 09:33:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15638013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sergeantwinter/pseuds/sergeantwinter
Summary: “You know, Keith,” Lance started, a flirtatious lilt lacing his words. “If you want your first kiss any time soon, you know where to find me.”To his surprise, Lance learns that Keith has never kissed anyone. Jokingly, he offers to change that - he doesn't expect that Keith will actually take him up on it.





	1. Chapter 1

“Keith, have you ever kissed anyone?”

“Can you get down from there and help me move these samples?”

Lance swung his arms up to grab the bar hanging in the doorway, unhooked his legs and dropped to the floor. “What’s this even here for, anyway?”

Keith exhaled a laugh. “Of course you wouldn’t know; it’s for working out.”

“Hey, I work out!” Being a paladin of Voltron required a certain level of fitness – fighting Galra really took it out of a guy. Besides, Keith had seen him on the training deck. Lance squinted at Keith’s back as he continued to pack up the samples, making no move to help him. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“I just did.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “The _other_ one, Keith.”

“No.”

“No, you won’t answer or no, you’ve never kissed anybody?”

“The second one.”

“Really? No one at the garrison? You were the best pilot! But you did live the desert for a year… Probably not a lot of people lining up to make out –”

“ _Lance._ ”

Lance sighed, picked up the last box and carried it over to Keith who was making a point of looking in the opposite direction. “Look, man,” Lance started, resting a firm hand on Keith’s shoulder. “All I'm trying to say is that there’s plenty of fish in the sea. Or in space, I guess. You’ll find someone.”

Lance got a kick out of the fact that Keith’s face matched his armour as he dipped his shoulder out from under Lance’s grasp. “Let’s just call the castle.” Lance shrugged before following Keith to the comms.

Allura answered, the mice scampering around her shoulders. “Hello, Keith. Lance.”

“Just finished loading the samples. We’ll be back soon.

“Excellent. And what about the other task I set you? Have you two bonded sufficiently?”

Lance threaded his arms around Keith’s waist and squeezed, pressing his cheek faux-lovingly against Keith’s cheek and scrunching his eyes closed. He let a languid smile spread across his face before answering, “We’re practically in love.” Lance’s own cheek was heating up with the force of Keith’s blush. Lance nestled in closer.

Allura beamed. “Excellent! Return to the castle and Pidge can start testing those samples.”

Static as the call cut out and Keith squirmed out of Lance’s grasp. “Gross.”

“You love me really.” He rested his arms of the back of Keith’s seat as the lion kicked to life, Keith steering them through the vast expanse of space. It would be a few hours before they were home. Lance gazed idly around the lion, her interior mostly empty, before settling his eyes on the control panel. Keith had nice hands – slim, long fingers and broad palms. Lance stretched his own hand out. Keith’s were probably bigger. Hmph.

Lance paced restlessly around the lion, tinkering with the few items Keith kept in her. He caught Keith giving him the side-eye a couple times, but what else was there to do? Keith wasn’t exactly making an effort to talk to Lance.

“Did you ever want to kiss someone?”

Keith groaned. “Please stop talking.”

“Come on; I'm bored. And we’re supposed to be bonding, aren’t we?”

“I wouldn’t call this bonding.”

“Teammates are supposed to know stuff about each other. I told you about my first kiss!”

“Kissing won’t help us defeat Zarkon.”

“You don’t know that…” Lance mumbled under his breath, turning his attention to the emptiness outside of the ship. Now that Lance thought about it, he hardly knew anything about Keith. He’d been kicked out of the garrison and lived in the desert for a year. He and Shiro were close. He was intelligent – he’d discovered the blue lion, after all – and a good fighter. It seemed like the only time he and Lance talked was when they were trying to piss each other off. Did Hunk and Pidge know him any better?

Lance had made the silence uncomfortable for himself, awkward and heavy. It felt rude to think so deeply about Keith with the boy himself sat a foot away, none the wiser to Lance’s internal monologue. Lance decided to diffuse the situation the only way he knew how.

“You know, Keith,” he started, a flirtatious lilt lacing his words. “If you want your first kiss any time soon, you know where to find me.”

The words hung in the air like a neon sign, and the tics stretched on without an answer. Lance opened his mouth to reclaim the offer but Keith accelerated without warning, sending Lance flying back through the lion. He made a garbled sound as he almost choked on his apology, knocking over a stack of sample boxes. Keith’s laughter rang out through the ship, full-bodied and real this time as it pinged against the walls, and Lance couldn’t help but grin.

 

*

 

“That was way too close!” Lance stumbled into the kitchen with the other paladins in tow, his chest heaving, and slammed his helmet onto the counter. He winced at the noise it made, reminiscent of the shots still ringing in ears. Hunk was the last to enter, mouth slack and arms hanging limp at his side like a zombie.

“Need…food goo…”

“Me too, buddy,” Lance replied, taking it upon himself to feed his teammates as they slumped around the kitchen; keeping his hands busy meant no one would see them shaking. “Hey, where did Keith go?” The remaining paladins swivelled their heads, searching the kitchen as though Keith was just hiding behind a chair. Pidge shrugged.

“I just passed him heading to the beds.” Allura said as she entered the kitchen, a concerned look on her face. “You should all rest.”

“Allura’s right.” Shiro placed down his bowl. “The best time to train is with the battle still fresh in our minds. I want you all suited up on the training deck bright and early tomorrow.” The trio grumbled their complaints in unison, a chorus of “always training”, “ _just_ got back” and “need time to heal”, but slunk off to bed. Lance could feel his post-battle adrenaline jitters transforming into fatigue as his bed drew closer, letting muscle memory guide him through the winding castle hallways. Hunk and Pidge were discussing their lions’ performance, tech jargon constituting most of their conversation, making it easy for Lance to drift in and out without feeling missing anything important.

“…weird. Right, Lance?”

It took Lance to register his name. “Huh?”

“Keith was acting strange, right?” Pidge repeated.

“And then he disappeared as soon as we got back. Was he okay on your mission?”

“Oh, uh, yeah,” Lance faltered. “Yeah, he was fine. Typical brooding Keith.” Pidge and Hunk exchanged a look before looking back to Lance expectantly, as though they wanted a better answer. Lance shrugged. “That was a pretty intense fight; maybe he’s just shaken up.”

Hunk’s face twisted into a mask of concern. “Maybe someone should check on him?”

“I'm closest. Night, guys.” Lance turned the corner to his own room as the others waved him off, jumping back into their conversation. He changed out of his armour slowly, his limbs heavy and tired. He could shower in the morning. Fighting the urge to close his eyes, he walked down the corridor to Keith’s room. He knocked on the door, three gentle raps with his knuckles. “Keith, buddy, you okay? It’s Lance.”

A few seconds passed and the doors opened. Keith was standing on the other side in a loose t-shirt and pyjama pants, bare toes tucked under bare feet. He looked small, and not just because the couple inches Lance had on him became more noticeable when they stood next to each other. He looked vulnerable.

“You can come in.”

“You disappeared when we got back,” Lance said. He’d never been in Keith’s room before; it was just as empty as his lion. His armour was stacked in the corner and his jacket folded neatly at the end of his bed. A picture of him and Shiro, younger, was taped above his desk. God, this guy was a mystery. “We were worried.”

“Today was close,” Keith took a deep breath. “Really close, and it got me thinking…about what you said.” Keith looked up, molten brown eyes melting into Lance’s, and Lance felt his stomach drop like when you fall in a dream. “I don’t want to die without knowing what it’s like to kiss someone.”

Just like that Lance was wide awake, thoughts of sleep and anything else wiped clean from his head.

“Unless you were just joking.” Keith’s eyes roamed Lance’s face and Lance found himself mirroring their movements, stuck to his stare like a magnet. He _had_ been joking, but only because he’d thought there was no way in hell Keith would ever take him up on it. Wasn’t Keith supposed to dislike him? Keith, who couldn’t even stand Lance’s hand on his shoulder, wanted Lance to kiss him?

Well, he was a man of his word.

“No, uh, no,” Lance stammered, tripping over his tongue. “No, I’ll kiss you.” He shook his head to dispel whatever doubt or confusion lingered, and took a step forward. “You sure about this?”

Keith nodded. Now that Lance was closer he could see that Keith’s pupils were dilated; he wondered if his own looked the same.

“Okay. Close your eyes.” Lance whispered, breath ghosting over Keith’s lips as he dipped his head closer, their noses brushing. Lance brought a hand up to Keith’s face, brushing his hair away from his forehead before gently tracing it down his cheek. Keith shuddered at his touch and Lance was giddy with the feeling, butterflies bursting from their cocoons in his stomach and propelling him forward to capture Keith’s lips with his own. Lance’s own eyes slipped closed as Keith exhaled against him and pressed in closer, his lips warm and full and parted just the right amount. He felt Keith’s hands slip round his waist, pulling him gently forward, and for a second Lance forgot that he was supposed to be leading.

Keith was a natural. Figures.


	2. Chapter 2

Lance narrowly avoided the blast aimed in his direction, barrel-rolling the blue lion across the training deck. “Hunk! A Little help here!”

“Can't, I'm covering the target!”

Lance swerved as the red lion shot towards him, deflecting some of the heat he was taking. “You’re _supposed_ to be drawing fire!” Keith yelled through the comms before darting to the other end of the deck to take out the attacker.

“Hey, I’m trying!”

Keith’s face appeared above the controls, a smirk curling his lips. “You’re getting rusty, Lance. You need more practise.” Lance’s helmet clicked, indicating that Keith was talking solely to him now. “And I'm not just talking about your fighting skills.”

The force with which Lance’s jaw dropped could’ve dented his lion; he didn’t have time to pick it up before a shot ricocheted off the walls to strike the side of his lion, sending him reeling back hard enough to smash into the yellow lion. His helmet clicked again the comms exploded into noise.

“Alright, that’s enough, Keith.” Shiro’s voice cut through the rabble, authoritative and slightly strained with the effort of speaking over everyone. “We’re done for today, folks.” The black lion glided to the ground followed closely by red and green. Hunk nudged his lion against Lance’s, no hard feelings, before joining the rest of the team. Lance opted to circle the arena a few times until it had emptied before landing. He needed time to calm down, anyway – his stomach felt like it had turned inside out. When he eventually landed, Keith was waiting for him.

“Hey,” Keith smiled, patting Lance’s arm. “You okay? You got hit pretty hard back there.”

“Uh, yeah, I'm fine. Think Blue is mad at me, though,” Lance replied, and Keith laughed softly. Who was this guy?

“Listen, can we talk?”

“Yeah, sure. I'm free now?” Lance stomach was flipping again.

“I think Pidge and Hunk wanted to talk to you, too.” He had a knowing look in his eyes.

Lance nodded, swallowing hard. “Okay, I’ll just… wait for me in my room?” Keith nodded in return, saluting as he exited the training deck.

 

Lance had never truly appreciated the vastness of the castle. He'd searched the entire castle for Hunk and Pidge, including the kitchen and their rooms and even the bathrooms; nothing. All the walk had done was given him time to think about the boy sitting in his room.

As much as Lance seemed to get on Keith’s nerves, he never let that affect their job. Keith protected him in battle when needed and supported his input. He’d entrusted his safety to Lance multiple times. They made a good team.

And Lance could appreciate good looks when he saw them; it had always been just another source of competition between him and Keith, at least from Lance’s point of view. Keith was tall (but still shorter than Lance) and broad; his body was powerful but agile; he had strong features and dark, mysterious eyes. Eyes deep enough to swim in and features that went soft under Lance’s touch. The way he’d acted during training was soft as well. Smiling at Lance? _Flirting_ with Lance? Oh God, one kiss and he was falling for Keith. Why didn't that thought freak him out more?

Lance was so lost in his head that he turned the corner to his room and walked straight into a wall. Lance squawked as he tumbled to the floor and looked up to find that the wall was actually Hunk, accompanied by Pidge, who were both looking down at him suspiciously. Hunk reached down and pulled Lance back to his feet.

“Warn a guy!” Lance exclaimed, craning his neck to look past his friends. He really needed to get to his room.

“You okay, Lance?”

“Yep.” Lance willed his heart rate to slow down; any faster and his whole body would start vibrating.

Pidge jabbed a finger at him. “Now _you're_ acting weird.”

“Am not!”

“Are too! Your mind was somewhere completely different in training; you were all over the place!”

“I'm just tired, okay?”

“We’re all tired, Lance. Something else is going on.” Pidge argued.  “And where’s Keith? He was waiting for you after training.”

“How would I know?”

Pidge squinted up at him and Lance could practically see the gears turning in her head. “Why are you sweating?”

Hunk pointed a thumb over his shoulder. “He's behind the door, isn’t he?”

“No!” The strangled quality of Lance’s voice probably didn’t help his case. He squeezed between his friends so that he was blocking them from his room and folded his arms across his chest. “Now if you’ll excuse me I would like to go back to bed. I don’t know if you noticed but I took some serious damage in that simulation.”

Hunk frowned, but his face softened as he squeezed Lance’s shoulder. “Okay, Lance,” he said. “We just wanted to make sure you were alright.” He turned and began to walk down the hallway; Pidge gave Lance one last look before following. Lance felt kind of bad for getting annoyed with them; they were just worried. He would’ve done the same if their positions were switched. Still, he had other things to deal with now.

The doors to his bedroom opened and Keith was there, his back to Lance. “Cool room,” he said as the doors closed.  He was looking at all the things that Lance had used to decorate his desk and walls: the few possessions he’d had with him when they left Earth and some other trinkets he’d collected during their travels.

“Thanks,” Lance replied, trying to ignore the knot in his stomach. “It’s not much but it makes the place feel more like home.” Keith didn’t respond, continuing to studying Lance’s things, and silence settled over the room. Lance fiddled with the zip on his jacket as he tried to think of something to say. “Hey, did you mean what you said earlier? About needing more practise.”

Keith laughed as he turned to face Lance. “No, yesterday was nice. More than nice. That’s what I came to say.”

Lance couldn’t help but feel proud of that, nerves replaced with a sudden burst of confidence. “Can't get enough of me, huh?” He cocked an eyebrow and Keith laughed, his cheeks speckled with pink.

“Actually, yeah,” Keith said, his eyes darting down to Lance’s mouth. “I want you to kiss me again, Lance.” He took a step closer, his face barely an inch away from Lance’s. “Please.”

Although he was the one to ask Lance to kiss him, Keith closed the gap between them, pressing his lips insistently against Lance’s and placing his hands on Lance’s sides. Lance melted immediately into the kiss, sighing as Keith parted his lips. He combed a hand through Keith’s hair which elicited a sound which can only be described as a purr, and Lance felt like he was floating as he realised that every kiss he’d ever had was in preparation for this.

“Stop, stop,” Lance gasped, pushing gently against Keith’s shoulders. Keith’s eyes flashed with worry as he drew back, searching Lance’s face for answers. Lance took a deep breath before continuing. “Keith, I think I have feelings for you, and I don’t want to take advantage of you by kissing you like this. I know it’s sudden but since last night I can't stop thinking about you; I don’t know how I didn’t see it before. You're smart and strong and mysterious; you're stubborn as hell but you care about the good of the team, and you're a surprisingly good kisser considering –” His rambling confession was interrupted by a hand over his mouth.

“Are you serious?” Keith sounded exasperated and Lance nodded, confused. “Lance, I like you too. I guess I thought asking you to kiss me would make that obvious.”

Lance blinked slowly as he pushed Keith’s hand away from his mouth. “I'm the dumb one, Keith, remember? You have to spell it out for me!”

Keith frowned. “You're not dumb, Lance. You're intuitive, and kind; you always come through when we need you. Ever since you shot Sendak I knew there was something special about you.”

“You’ve liked me since then?” Keith gave Lance a sheepish look, the pink tinge returning to his cheeks. “Wait. So every time you made fun of me, were you just trying to flirt?” Keith’s cheeks were turning redder by the second and Lance put his hands on his hips, revelling in it.

“Just shut up and kiss me, Lance.”

Lance smirked, feeling warm and light. “You sure you can handle it?” Keith took that as a challenge, grabbing Lance’s face with both hands and kissing him hard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter should be up on Friday. Thanks for reading and commenting, everyone! :)


	3. Chapter 3

“Why did we ever fight when we could’ve been doing this?” Lance sighed.

“Because you were clearly repressing your feelings for me.” Keith’s reply was muffled in Lance’s neck.

Lance rolled his eyes. “I meant that rhetorically.”

“Doesn’t mean I'm wrong.”

“Shut up, Keith.”

Keith pulled back to look Lance directly in the eye. “Make me.”

Lance grinned and lunged forward to push Keith back onto the pillows, delighting in the little “oof” Keith let out before pushing back. Their noses bumped as they both went in for the kiss and that just made Lance grin harder, smiling against Keith’s lips. Seriously, why hadn't they always been doing this?

Lance fisted a hand in Keith’s hair to put himself in control, trying to convey his happiness through the kiss. Keith seemed to understand, running his hands up Lance’s side in answer. Urgency descended on the couple, the kiss growing frantic as though they couldn’t get enough of each other, and Keith slipped his hands underneath Lance’s shirt.

Lance’s shirt was halfway over his head when the doors opened.

“Keith, Pidge gave me this new device and I can't figure out how to –”

“Shiro! U-Uh…”

Lance was thankful that his shirt was pulled up round his eyes because it meant he didn’t have to see Shiro’s face when he comprehended the scene before him. Only slightly thankful, however – he was still almost half-naked in the middle of making out with Keith in front of the team’s father figure. Lance was sure his whole chest had turned red from the way it was burning.

“Oh, uh – sorry, I’ll just, uh – I’ll just –” Shiro cleared his throat, an awkward sound that seemed to reverberate around the room. “Be safe.” He knocked into the door frame in his haste to leave and Lance couldn’t help but laugh, equal parts amusement and embarrassment. Keith shared the sentiment, hiding his face against Lance’s bare chest.

“Well, that was awkward.

“Tell me about it,” Lance said, nudging Keith away so he could pull his shirt back down. “Total mood killer.” The two sat in silence for a while as their embarrassment faded, Keith resting his head against Lance’s shoulder as Lance combed through his hair. Keith had really soft hair.

Lance could’ve happily been lulled to sleep by the rhythmical rise and fall of Keith’s breathing, but Keith had other ideas. “Want to find that pool Allura was talking about?”

“Sure,” Lance nodded, a sparkle in his eye. “I’ll race you.” Before Keith could even agree, Lance had shoved him out of the way and sprinted through the door, laughing as Keith grumbled behind him.

 

*

 

“Why would they even make an upside down pool?” Lance lamented as he threw his hands in the air. He was being dramatic, sure, but it made Keith smile. Keith’s smile was quickly becoming one of Lance’s favourite sights.

“You're cute when you pout,” Keith mused.

“That must be why you were mean to me all the time.”

Keith scoffed. “You know, you nearly always started those fights.”

“Hey, not true!”

“If you say so,” Keith smirked, pulling Lance closer by his t-shirt. “I’ll make it up to you.” He placed his hand behind Lance’s neck and scratched the short hairs there, sending a shiver through Lance. Keith tilted his head up as Lance tilted his down, pressing their mouths together. Keith teased his tongue against Lance’s bottom lip and Lance let out a whine, grabbing at Keith’s hips.

Keith pulled back, breathless. “We probably shouldn’t do this out here.”

Lance grabbed Keith’s hand and walked down the hallway towards the first door he spotted. “Keep up like this and all will be forgiven.” A breathy giggle escaped Keith as they reached the door and stumbled through. His laugh was music to Lance’s ears, so rare but potent enough to make Lance feel drunk on it. His laughter turned to sighs as Lance moved down to his neck.

“At least turn the light on.”

Lance scrambled behind them, running his hands across the wall until he felt the switch, without letting go of Keith. Light washed over them, followed by a sharp “Oh!” Lance had never moved so fast in his life, springing to the other side of the room, which happened to be a lab. A few feet in front of them Allura and Coran had been poring over Pidge’s research on the samples. Their eyes moved slowly from Keith to Lance back to the red mark on Keith’s neck, like they were watching a tennis match, and Lance could tell the exact moment lightbulb in Allura’s head clicked on.

“This is a better outcome than I ever expected!” she cried. “Come, Coran, we must find tasks for the other paladins!” The pair ran out of the lab, talking excitedly, and Keith gave Lance a sheepish look.

“I guess we should tell the others why Allura’s about to start sending everyone away on bonding missions.”

Lance laced his fingers between Keith’s. “They are not gonna be happy that they're the last to find out.”

 

*

 

“So, yeah, I guess we’re dating.” Lance lifted his hand from under the table and intertwined it with Keith’s. Pidge and Hunk sat across from them, their expressions blank, and Lance raised his eyebrows to elicit some kind of response.

“Oh, we totally knew something was up.” Hunk deadpanned, but he couldn’t stop a smile from cracking across his face. “We saw Keith go into your room after training.”

“You know what this means,” Pidge said, a devious expression creeping across her features as she turned to Hunk. Hunk nodded, and Lance could only watch in confusion.

“Space wedding!” they yelled in unison, clutching at each other in delight. Lance opened his mouth to object but they were oblivious to the other people in the room, diving headfirst into their fantasy.

“I’ll cater, obviously.”

“I wonder if we could get the lions to roar _Here Comes the bride.”_

“Oh, we could make the rings out of spare parts of their lions!”

The pair talked a mile a minute as they left the kitchen; Lance made a feeble attempt to stop them, calling out “We’re not actually getting married!” but their either didn’t hear or chose not to acknowledge him. It was probably the latter. Lance put his down on the table and Keith rubbed his back.

“Relax; they good friends. Besides,” Keith smiled. “A space wedding _would_ be cute.”

Lance sat up. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Lance cupped Keith’s cheek and kissed him, tender and soft. “I dibs Shiro as best man.”

Keith looked genuinely shocked, his eyebrows shooting up, and all Lance could do was laugh and kiss him again (and again, and again).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably the first time I've written fic in the last year and it was super fun!! Thanks for reading everyone!


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